Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- The United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled that France’s niqab ban is a human rights violation and gave France 180 days to compensate the complainants and review the law.
- Christian bakery owners Aaron and Melissa Klein filed a petition for writ of certiorari after the Oregon Court of Appeals found the couple violated Oregon’s public accommodations statute by declining to create a wedding cake for a same-sex wedding.
- The Department of Health and Human Services is considering whether to allow a South Carolina Protestant adoption agency to discriminate against non-Protestant families in the placement of children.
- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued a national apology to victims of child sex abuse, following a five-year Royal Commission that detailed the abuse, including in churches.
- The Trump administration is considering whether to define sex under Title IX as male or female, casting doubt on the legal status of transgender individuals under that law.
- The Indian state of Assam has shut down after protests against a proposed citizenship law that would differentiate between immigrants on the basis of religion. Protestors claim the law violates India’s secular constitution.
- A hospital security officer filed a complaint with the EEOC, claiming he was fired for refusing to shave his beard, which was required by his Norse Pagan faith.
- After hearing oral arguments, the Ninth Circuit may lift the nationwide preliminary injunction on Trump administration rules that would expand employer exemptions for contraceptive coverage on religious and moral grounds.